By Chris Kahn NEW YORK (Reuters) - A majority of Americans
disagree with President Donald Trump's assertion that football
players should be fired for kneeling during the national anthem,
even though most say they would personally stand during the song,
according to an exclusive Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll released on
Tuesday. The Sept. 25-26 poll found that 57 percent of adults do
not think the National Football League should fire players who
kneel. This included 61 percent of NFL fans who watch at least a
few games per season.

By Brendan Pierson and Jonathan Stempel NEW YORK (Reuters) -
U.S. authorities on Tuesday unveiled fraud charges against 10
people associated with some of the country's premier college
basketball programs, including four coaches and an Adidas AG
executive, following a two-year corruption probe. Prosecutors said
they uncovered two related schemes, including one in which apparel
executives, financial advisers and others bribed assistant college
coaches to steer elite players to them, and a second in which
players were allegedly bribed to enroll at schools sponsored by
Adidas. The charges reflect what prosecutors called the "criminal
influence of money" on National Collegiate Athletic Association
basketball, and the conflicts that could arise from the drive to
win and the need to provide student-athletes an education.

By Robin Respaut and Dave Graham SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico
(Reuters) - President Donald Trump hailed his administration on
Tuesday for a "really good job" helping Puerto Rico recover from
the devastation of Hurricane Maria, despite complaints that federal
aid has been too slow to reach the U.S. territory. Trump agreed to
boost federal disaster aid to the island, increasing funding to
assist with debris removal and emergency protective measures.

By Timothy Gardner WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Trump
administration on Tuesday denied a request to waive shipping
restrictions to help get fuel and supplies to storm-ravaged Puerto
Rico, saying it would do nothing to address the island's main
impediment to shipping, damaged ports. The Jones Act limits
shipping between coasts to U.S. flagged vessels. The Department of
Homeland Security, which waived the act after hurricanes Harvey and
Irma, did not agree an exemption would help this time.

Joseph Jakubowski, 32, was arrested in April after a massive
manhunt following his theft of 18 guns and two silencers from the
shop. Jakubowski faces up to 10 years in prison and up to $250,000
in fines for each count of stealing from a licensed firearm dealer
and being a felon in possession of a firearm, said Kyle
Frederickson, a deputy clerk at the district court, in a phone
call. Jakubowski is set to be sentenced on Dec. 20 at U.S. District
Court in Madison, Wisconsin.

The top U.S. general said on Tuesday he has urged the Trump
administration not to kick transgender service members out of the
military despite President Donald Trump's ban on transgender people
serving in the armed forces. Marine Corps General Joseph Dunford,
chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was asked by Democratic
Senator Kirsten Gillibrand during a Senate Armed Services Committee
hearing whether he agreed that the thousands of transgender men and
women now in the military have served with honor and valor. "I do,
Senator," Dunford responded.

When New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo arrived in a Maria-devastated
Puerto Rico Friday, he brought with him a half-dozen electrical
generators – coveted assistance for an island that officials
estimate could be without power for months. If New York’s governor
saw fit to demonstrate solidarity with Puerto Rico, it is because
of the sizable and well-established Puerto Rican population in New
York – one that continues to grow as young people with US passports
abandon the poverty-stricken and financially strapped island.

After a hurricane, earthquake, or a terrorist attack, artists
and performers are usually not first responders. A good example was
Telemundo’s four-hour telethon on Sept. 24 that brought out stars
such as Jennifer Lopez on behalf of the victims of hurricanes
Maria, Harvey, Irma, as well as the Mexican earthquakes. “The
healing power of the arts is a real thing,” says Jake Speck,
executive director of Houston’s A.D. Players.

For two days after Mexico’s 7.1 earthquake toppled scores of
buildings, killing what’s now believed to be nearly 300 people, the
country was captivated by the story of Frida Sofía, a 12-year-old
on the brink of a miraculous rescue. Frida Sofía didn’t exist.
Recommended: How much do you know about Mexico?

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday he planned to go to
Puerto Rico and praised the federal effort so far for the U.S.
territory after it was devastated by Hurricane Maria. "Puerto Rico
needs a lot of money," Trump told reporters at the White House.
"We've worked very, very hard in Puerto Rico.

Ratings downgrades for global insurers and reinsurers are
becoming more probable as they face more than $100 billion in 2017
catastrophe losses, a figure that threatens to weaken their capital
reserves, Fitch Ratings Inc said in a report on Tuesday. Losses
from Hurricane Maria, which could be as much as $85 billion, along
with those of other recent 2017 catastrophes, including Hurricanes
Irma and Harvey, the Mexico City earthquakes and other events, will
force some reinsurers to dip into their capital, Fitch said.

Questions about the U.S. media’s coverage of Hurricane Maria
and about the American public’s understanding of the island
territory have revived old conversations about Puerto Rico’s
relationship with the United States.

By Susan Cornwell WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A Republican attempt
to dismantle Obamacare fell apart in the U.S. Senate on Tuesday for
the second time in two months in a serious setback for President
Donald Trump's domestic agenda. The party was unable to win enough
support from its own senators for a bill to repeal the 2010
healthcare law and decided not to put it to a vote, several
Republicans said. "We basically ran out of time," said Senator Ron
Johnson, a co-sponsor of the measure with Senators Bill Cassidy and
Lindsey Graham, who told reporters the party would target
healthcare again after trying to reform the U.S. tax code.

The Trump administration plans to cap the number of refugees
admitted to the United States in the coming year at 45,000, two
people with knowledge of the decision said, a historically low
level advocates say ignores growing humanitarian crises worldwide.
Since then, the ceiling has never been set below 67,000 and in
recent years has been around 70,000 to 80,000. The administration
plans to announce its decision on the cap on Wednesday, two U.S.
officials said.

U.S. President Donald Trump told several lawmakers on Tuesday
that he would work with Democrats in Congress to overhaul the
nation's healthcare system if Republicans fail to pass a measure to
repeal and replace Obamacare, a key lawmaker said. "On healthcare,
he made that clear, that if he didn’t get what he wanted, that he
was going to work with Democrats on a plan,” for healthcare and
that he wanted bipartisan tax reform, U.S. Representative Richard
Neal, the top Democrat on the House Ways and Means Committee, said
following panel members' meeting with Trump at the White House
earlier on Tuesday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump's criticisms
of National Football League players kneeling in protest during the
national anthem have not distracted him from other concerns, he
told journalists on Tuesday. "I wasn't preoccupied with the NFL. I
was ashamed of what was taking place because to me, that was a very
important moment," Trump said, adding later, "I have plenty of time
on my hands. All I do is work." (Reporting by Steve Holland;
Writing by Makini Brice; Editing by Jonathan Oatis)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican Senator Pat Roberts said on
Tuesday that "it would appear" there will be no vote on the latest
bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act, after Senate Majority
Leader Mitch McConnell and co-sponsors Senators Lindsey Graham and
Bill Cassidy decided there were not enough votes to pass it.

The U.S. Senate will soon likely vote to kill a new ban on
banks and credit card companies requiring customers to surrender
their right to sue in order to open accounts, according to aides,
lobbyists and activists. Once Republican lawmakers either pass or
abandon their latest effort to redo healthcare, which could happen
as early as Tuesday evening, they will take up a resolution to kill
a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau rule finalized in July,
according to multiple lobbyists. The resolution passed the House of
Representatives last month.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan on Tuesday
said Congress would act to provide to the U.S. territory of Puerto
Rico the same disaster relief following Hurricane Maria that had
been granted to Texas and Florida after Hurricanes Harvey and Irma.
"When we get the information we need from the administration, we
will be doing more in Congress to act on all of these hurricane
victims wherever they are, because these hurricanes have really
wreaked havoc on many of our fellow citizens," Ryan told reporters
at a news conference. (Reporting by Makini Brice)

U.S. Senate Leader Mitch McConnell on Tuesday said lawmakers
were working with the Trump administration to help Puerto Rico
after Hurricane Maria devastated the island last week but were
still waiting to hear what additional resources were necessary. "I
expect we’ll hear more soon on what additional resources will be
necsideessary in Puerto Rico and elsewhere in the paths of the
storms," McConnell said in a statement.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday
agreed to boost federal disaster aid to Puerto Rico after Hurricane
Maria hit the U.S. territorial island last week, the White House
said in a statement. The move will increase federal funding to
assist with debris removal and emergency protective measures, the
White House said. (Reporting by Susan Heavey)

(Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump ramped up his fight
with the National Football League on Tuesday, calling on the league
to ban players from kneeling in protest at games while the national
anthem is played. "The NFL has all sorts of rules and regulations.
The only way out for them is to set a rule that you can't kneel
during our National Anthem!" Trump wrote on Twitter.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Roger Stone, a longtime ally of
President Donald Trump, refused to respond to one line of
questioning from members of the U.S. House of Representatives
Intelligence Committee on Tuesday and could face a subpoena to
return and answer them, the panel's top Democrat said.

In a bright and boxy photo studio in South Sudan’s capital, an
industrial printer is spitting out a glossy stack of exotic
vacation snapshots. Recommended: Think you know Africa? “Couches,
grand pianos, far away houses – these are the things people most
like to have the backgrounds in their pictures,” says Tsedeke
Abebaw, the owner of On Time Photo Studios in downtown Juba, barely
glancing up from the computer screen in front of him.

Cabot Oil & Gas Co. [COG.N] has settled a lawsuit filed by
two families in Dimock, Pennsylvania, who alleged their homes'
drinking water became contaminated with methane not long after the
company began drilling for natural gas in 2007. The Ely and Hulbert
families initially won $4.2 million in damages in a federal jury
trial in Scranton last year, but Magistrate Judge Martin Carlson
threw out the verdict as unjustified and ordered the parties to
begin settlement talks. Leslie Lewis, the New York lawyer who
represented the families, declined on Tuesday to comment on the
terms.

A U.S. appeals court on Tuesday threw out the conviction of
former New York state Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos, citing a
recent U.S. Supreme Court decision that narrowed the conduct that
can sustain federal corruption charges. The ruling came two months
after the court also vacated the bribery conviction of former New
York state Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, employing similar
reasoning. Acting U.S. Attorney in Manhattan Joon Kim said in a
statement that his office would pursue a "prompt retrial where we
will have another opportunity to present the overwhelming evidence
of Dean Skelos and Adam Skelos' guilt." Prosecutors previously said
they would also retry Silver.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump said on Tuesday
that a tax reform plan being discussed with lawmakers will cut
taxes "tremendously" for the middle class, nearly double the
standard deduction and try to make the tax code simple and
fair.

(Reuters) - Maria, presently a Category 1 hurricane, could lose
strength and weaken to a tropical storm within the next day or so,
the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) said in its latest
advisory on Tuesday. Hurricane Maria is about 175 miles (285 km)
southeast of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina with maximum sustained
winds of 75 mph (120 km/h), the NHC said. The center of Maria will
pass east of the coast of North Carolina during the next couple of
days, the Miami-based weather forecaster said, adding tropical
storm force winds are nearing the North Carolina outer banks.
...

(Reuters) - Lee, a Category 2 hurricane, is gaining in strength
as it moves westward, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) said in
its latest advisory on Tuesday. The hurricane is located about 1620
miles (2610 km) west-southwest of the Azores with maximum sustained
winds of 105 mph (165 km/h), the Miami-based weather forecaster
said. "Lee could strengthen a little more before weakening likely
begins on Thursday," the NHC added. (Reporting by Karen Rodrigues
in Bengaluru)

U.S. House Republican Speaker Paul Ryan told journalists on
Tuesday that athletes who protest during the national anthem have
the right to do so, but that he believes such demonstrations should
not take place during "The Star-Spangled Banner." "People are
clearly within their rights to express themselves how they see fit.
The national anthem, our flag, and the people who defend it,
represent it, that should be celebrated everywhere and always, and
that's my opinion," Ryan said. U.S. President Donald Trump ramped
up his fight with the National Football League earlier on Tuesday,
calling on the popular league to ban players from kneeling in
protest at games while the national anthem is played.

In a town hall event Monday night, the former presidential
candidate took issue with Trump’s priorities as he devoted more
attention to protesting athletes than to the condition of millions
on Puerto Rico.

By Brendan Pierson NEW YORK (Reuters) - Former U.S.
Representative Anthony Weiner was sentenced to 21 months in prison
on Monday for sending sexually explicit messages to a 15-year-old
girl, setting off a scandal that played a role in the 2016 U.S.
presidential election. Weiner, 53, started to cry as soon as the
sentence was announced by U.S. District Judge Denise Cote in
Manhattan. "I was a very sick man for a very long time, but I'm
also responsible for the damage I have done," Weiner read from a
statement in court before he was sentenced.

In a feisty statement to be delivered to the House Intelligence
Committee, Roger Stone, President Trump’s longtime political
adviser, denies any collusion with Russia during last year’s
presidential election and accuses panel members of “cowardice” for
insisting that he testify behind closed doors rather than in a
public session.

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday Puerto Rico is in
"deep trouble" after being hit by Hurricane Maria and that its
billions of dollars of debt to the Wall Street and banks "must be
dealt with." "Puerto Rico, which was already suffering from broken
infrastructure & massive debt, is in deep trouble," Trump wrote
in a series of posts on Twitter. Much of the Island was destroyed,
with billions of dollars owed to Wall Street and the banks which,
sadly, must be dealt with." Trump did not offer a pathway for
dealing with Puerto Rico's debt.

By Katherine Davis-Young PHOENIX (Reuters) - Two National
Football League teams largely steered clear of a controversy over
national anthem protests that have ensnared U.S. President Donald
Trump and threatened to damage the game's popularity, staging a
"moment of unity" on Monday instead. The entire Dallas Cowboys
team, including owner Jerry Jones, linked arms and knelt on the
playing field for a moment before the game, but then stood
respectfully as the "Star-Spangled Banner" was performed by singer
Jordin Sparks. "We all agreed that our players wanted to make a
statement about unity and we wanted to make a statement about
equality," Jones said after his team beat the Arizona Cardinals
28-17.

Georgia is scheduled on Tuesday to execute a man for the 1990
shotgun murder of his sister-in-law, as lawyers for the inmate
argue the lethal injection should be halted because his conviction
was tainted by a juror with racist views. Keith Tharpe, 59, who is
black, is due to be executed at 7 p.m. at the Georgia Diagnostic
and Classification Center in Jackson for murdering Jackie Freeman,
the sister of his wife, Migrisus Tharpe. The Georgia State Board of
Pardons and Paroles on Monday denied a request to stop the
execution after lawyers for Tharpe said a white juror in the case
“possessed profoundly racist views” and repeatedly used racial
slurs during deliberations to describe Tharpe.